Social media searches are really powerful. This is a space to watch. Here are a few new trends that have been recently rolled out….

PINTEREST

Pinterest has added a dimension to their search whereby images within images are now clicking through to new pages. For example, an image of a living room set that the viewer finds appealing may have a bookshelf in the set. The viewer can now click on the bookshelf and see other options for this element of the image to browse through.

SOCIAL LIVE BROADCAST

Another huge trend is the social live broadcast. Many have felt that this was a trend reserved for the mammoth brands, but the desire of your audience to know what is happening NOW in your business has widened the scope to include smaller businesses. Periscope.tv which has been around now for about a year, states that “people enjoy seeing the world through someone else’s eyes”. They also mention, “A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.” Just think of the power of showing off Jamaica and its beautiful points of interest through this channel.

Just a note here though, that brand owners must ensure that their employees are educated and trained concerning the legal risks that arise when filming people, places and brands.

POUNCE.MOBI

Pounce.mobi is an astounding app. You can browse – see an item, tap to buy and the whole process takes a few seconds instead of going through the process in the e-commerce store, yet the order still goes through the merchant’s website.

SNIP SNAP

Snip Snap is another great one. Find coupons online, snap them with your phone and it will match to visuals and text of offers, and create a mobile offer from your image. Still doesn’t work for supermarket coupons yet, but I am sure it won’t be long now…

CRAVES BY SLYCE

Last summer Slyce released its visual search shopping app, “Craves”. Mobile Marketing Magazine reported that, “Craves enables users to snap a photo of clothing items or fashion accessories in the real world or upload screenshots from Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr or other sites and instantly find matching or visually similar items from over a hundred upscale boutique and classic fashion retailers.” Once Craves finds similar results for the image you upload, you will be given more information on the product, be notified of any special offers and you can follow friends and influencers to see what they are “craving”.

VIDEO

Video in general is super powerful and you can’t afford to miss having your business represented online in this way. Videos average 62 per cent more engagement than images, according to brafton.com.

The same source indicates that “Video shares increased 43 per cent at the start of this year”.

Moreover, Facebook recently announced that it is seeing about 8 billion views a day from 500 million people!

It is clear that you need to start producing some short, tight videos with a strong call to action, don’t you think?

SOCIAL INBOUND MESSAGING

If you have an e-commerce store with social messaging capability, then you should also be aware that SproutSocial.com has given statistics that show inbound messages on such sites were up 32 per cent in 2015, and the alarming thing is that over 80 per cent of these go unanswered!

So, if you have this feature on your store, you must ensure that you have the personnel in place to answer your clientele, or you are leaving a huge hunk of your business on the table, not to mention the impact on your social reputation online.

There is no doubt that the days of thinking social media is for kids are far behind us, and if you are not taking full advantage of this powerful medium for your business or brand, then it is time to take action!

Melanie Phillibert is an international award-winning web developer and internet marketing consultant. She can be contacted via e-mail at melanie@internetmarketingsynergies.com.